All chem­i­cal fac­to­ries will be ex­am­ined

The Min­istry of Emer­gency Man­age­ment will launch a thor­ough ex­am­i­na­tion of all chem­i­cal fac­to­ries to root out safety haz­ards in the wake of an ex­plo­sion in Zhangji­akou, He­bei prov­ince, on Nov 28 that killed 23 peo­ple. The min­istry’s work safety bureau will set up 10 teams made up of mem­bers of in­dus­try as­so­ci­a­tions and ex­perts. The teams will pro­vide safety guid­ance and help in con­duct­ing in-depth in­ves­ti­ga­tions of 50 key coun­ties with plants pro­duc­ing hazardous chem­i­cals, Huang Ming, the min­istry’s Party sec­re­tary, said on Dec 2. It will also strengthen safety control and man­age­ment with re­gard to the plan­ning of plant sites and ex­am­ine stor­age fa­cil­i­ties for chloroethy­lene gas — an in­dus­trial chem­i­cal — at 75 en­ter­prises across the coun­try, he said.